Fathers of the Fodder Speak Out...

  "Be afraid of our leadership, or lack thereof. Pray every day for the soldiers that are putting their lives at risk and doing what they love, which is protecting all of us. I think they’re the only ones that we can honestly say have our backs." ~Mark Schmitz, father of 20-year-old Marine Lance Cpl. Jared Schmitz, late of Missouri.

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Before being sent over to Afghanistan, Kareem Nikoui had been stationed at Camp Pendleton, near his family’s Southern California home. Steve Nikoui recalled that his son regularly made trips home on weekends, often bringing "10 or 15 other Marines" with him.

"My wife and I felt very honored that [since] these other boys weren’t around their homes, that we were able to provide some sort of family life for them," said Nikoui, who added that his son "really loved that [Marine Corps] family. He was devoted. He was going to make a career out of this, and he wanted to go.

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Nikoui went on to compare the area of the Kabul airport Kareem and his colleagues were patrolling to a "turkey shoot."

"Basically, it’s funneled into like a single-file type [of] entry point at which, you know, if you have any sort of chaos of any sort, they would all gather to that one funneled area [in] which they would all be susceptible, and I think that’s exactly what happened," he said. "It was just basically so chaotic and not really planned out. Now, I’m a carpenter and even I could spot that with my untrained military eye."

 

Mama, I'm coming home...

The White House said the next few days were likely to be the most dangerous of the evacuation operation. The United States and allies have taken about 113,500 people out of Afghanistan in the past two weeks, it said.

U.S. military and allied countries' flights carried fewer people on Saturday as Washington prepared to end its mission.

With another attack against Kabul airport a near certainty, according to U.S. officials, the State Department reiterated its warning to Americans to immediately leave the area due to "a specific, credible threat", including the South gate, new Ministry of Interior, and gate near Panjshir petrol station.

The last British flight evacuating civilians from Afghanistan left Kabul on Saturday. British troops would take small numbers of Afghan citizens with them as they leave this weekend, a defense ministry spokesperson said. Armed forces chief Nick Carter said hundreds of people who had worked with Britain would not make it through.

Fool me once, shame on me.

Fool me twice, heads in Washington will likely roll...

Let's pray the Baker's Dozen are the last servicemembers to die in Afghanistan attacks -- whatever it takes -- and the remainder of the young troops come home in one piece.  One more life American troop death is likely to ignite civil war here at home...  (You've been warned. You know it's coming, and still our troops are being sacrificed to "save" Afghani civilians.  Those are some messed-up priorities for your men (and women), and they mostly know it.  Baby-handling is not a military duty.  It's a just a waste of life delaying the inevitable now... #20yearsin,BringThemHomeAlready #NotInMyName #BushCheneyObamaBidenLegacy 

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Which Country?

The United States continued to withdraw its remaining troops, signaling an end to a 20-year war that has left the country awash in desperation.